The present invention relates generally to paddle game devices for striking objects such as resilient balls, and more particularly to a novel electronic paddle game device having an object striking surface defining one or more sensor areas for sensing impact of selected areas of the striking surface with an object, such as a tethered resilient ball, and providing an electronically generated response.
Over the years, great enjoyment has been derived from paddle games. Paddles for impacting an object in a game format, such as paddles for playing tennis, paddleball, or hitting a tethered ball, are well known. The paddles allow a player to strike a ball or other object with an impact or striking surface of the paddle so as to direct the struck object in a desired trajectory, or to hit the object consecutively for as long as possible, such as in the traditional game of hand-held paddleball played with a tethered or free resilient ball.
A variation in the traditional game of consecutively striking a tethered or free resilient ball with a paddle has added impact sensing mechanism to the paddle to sense contact of the ball with one or more target areas on the striking face of the paddle. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,928,583 discloses a paddle game wherein a ball is attached to a paddle through an elastic cord. A plunger extends through the paddle and is depressed when impacted by the ball to actuate a bell located on the rear face of the paddle. Thus, the bell is mechanically activated when the ball hits the plunger.
Other paddle game devices are known which also utilize mechanical linkage arrangements to cause audible sound to be mechanically generated in response to a tethered ball hitting a particular area of the striking face of the paddle. Further examples include U.S. Pat. No. 2,978,248 which discloses a paddle having a collapsible bulb responsive to being struck by an object to cause air to be expelled through an opening to blow a whistle mechanism located on the back of the paddle, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,159,817 which discloses a paddle having a compressible disk member on the ball impacting surface responsive to being hit by a ball to effect a clicking noise.
A drawback with known paddle game devices having mechanical linkage mechanisms to effect an audible response to the paddle impacting a ball or the like is that the mechanisms often rattle during use of the paddle and further add to the weight and complexity of the paddle. In addition, known paddle game devices which generate an audible response to impacting by a ball produce the same audible sound each time a target area on the face of the paddle is impacted.
Other paddle game devices are known which utilize electronic means to produce a response to hitting an object with the paddle. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,563 discloses a paddle having a multi-layer sensing mechanism in the form a network of open mesh strands and an elastically deflectable sheet which define an exterior surface on the paddle for hitting a ball. Contact of the exterior hitting surface with a ball, and the location of the hit or impact may be used to provide a signal for indicating a score. The score may be displayed on a liquid crystal display located in a handle. Such paddle devices are relatively complex and expensive to manufacture, do not provide an audible output in response to impacting a ball or the like, and do not provide selective target areas or zones on the striking face of the paddle.